Signs of soil erosion along the coastline of Satabhaya village in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Nov. 14: The technical complexities of global warming, climate change or construction along the shoreline that leads to sea erosion do not carry any meaning for nearly 200 families of Barahipur, Satabhaya and Magarkanda.

Left to fend for themselves in the sea-ravaged territory of Satabhaya village in Kendrapara, people argue that the sea has turned violent. They explain with rustic wisdom that sea water has turned warmer and it cannot be tamed.

“Time is ripe to leave the place or else the sea would eat us up as it has done with their ancestral land,” said local resident Rajiv Lochan Hota.

Cyclone Hudhud has only worsened the situation. Massive sand dunes that used to act as a protective barrier against the sea waves are falling to pieces. The shift of these dunes has exposed the land to the advancing tides.

“People are hopelessly exposed to tidal waves as sand dunes are steadily getting fragmented. The message is clear — the sea will wash away our village shortly. There is human settlement only at Satabhaya, Barahipur and Magarkanda villages. The cyclone has burst apart the sand dunes, opening gates for ingress of seawater,” said Satabhaya sarpanch Nigmanand Rout.

The sea has advanced 6km into this panchayat in the past 35 years. The area consisting of three villages is now in the “danger zone”. Kanhupur has been gobbled up in the past six years.

“The erstwhile Kanika zamindar had a stone-cut building here. The sea has eaten it up in the past two decades. Our homes and agriculture fields have all been washed away. I am a native of Mahanipur revenue village, which is now under the sea. Kualiora, Gobindpur, Sanakanhupur, Kharikula hamlets — all these have faced similar consequence,” said 75-year-old Krushna Chandra Behera, a displaced villager now living at Barahipur.

People here are left to contend with government apathy and nature’s scourge.

“The sand dunes were protecting us. But, the cyclone has disfigured them. Now, the village is about to get obliterated. They are already leaving Barahipur,” said villager Brahmananda Jena.

Though the district administration had officially announced that the affected families would be relocated to a rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia by March 31, 2013, nothing has been done to resettle them.

The state government has faced innumerable anti-displacement movements in various districts. The one by the villagers of Satabhaya and Kanhupur is on the contrary for displacement. They want to be displaced and rehabilitated, as the water is steadily advancing.

The decision to relocate 571 families living at the vulnerable coastal villages had been taken in 2008 at a meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The proposed project in Kendrapara is incidentally the state’s first-ever rehabilitation and resettlement project for people displaced by sea erosion.

“Satabhaya is no more safe for living. There are reports of people shifting to safer places. Plan to rehabilitate the affected families of Satabhaya stays on top of our agenda. The land acquisition process for the rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia has been done. Construction of roads, pucca houses and filling up of the low-lying portion of the proposed colony would get under way shortly,” said Kendrapara collector Pramod Kumar Das.

“The government is insensitive to our plight. It is playing cruel joke upon us,” said Satabhaya resident Sudarshan Rout.